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Published: October 6th 2009
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Well this was not the most exciting day that we have had. It was time to take care of some necessary auto maintenance and so we stopped at The Big O tire dealership to have the tires rotated and to get an oil change.
While in the waiting room, several people came in and said that it was snowing to the north and also to the south up in the mountains. This afternoon we thought that we would visit Ouray. Ouray is about 40 miles south of Montrose so we headed out to see this town that is advertised as the "Switzerland of America". I have no idea why it was so named because other than being in a mountainous area, there was absolutely nothing Swiss about the town. Originally established by miners chasing silver and gold in the surrounding mountains, the town at one time boasted more horses and mules than people. Prospectors arrived in the area in 1875 searching for silver and gold. At the height of the mining, Ouray had more than 30 active mines. The town was named after Chief Ouray of the Utes, a Native American tribe.
The entirety of Main St. is registered as a
National Historic District with most of the buildings dating back to the late nineteenth century.
The present-day economy of Ouray is based on tourism. We drove around the town and noted that none of the streets were paved and there were no stop signs at the cross streets except for those that crossed Main st. The houses mostly had siding as opposed to brick or stone, and the roofs were different coloured metal. Many were painted with bright colours and were Victorian in style with lots of gingerbread trim. We saw lots of Mule deer wandering through the gardens and grazing on the homeowners shrubs and plants.
The town has plenty of hotels, motels and other accommodation for the tourists and many of the hotels had natural hot spring pools that were steaming today due to the cool air. There are no ski areas nearby, but Ouray is known for it's ice climbing cliffs. The world's first ice climbing park, expanding on previously-popular natural falls, consists of dozens of frozen waterfalls from 80 to 200 feet high farmed along more than a mile of the Uncompahgre Gorge. The water is supplied by a sprinkler system developed and maintained by a volunteer organization and supported by donations from local businesses, gear manufacturers and climbers. The Ouray Ice Park is free and attracts climbers from around the world.
The weather at Ouray today was pretty dismal. The temp was 37 degrees and it was raining. We saw what we had come to see and then headed back to Montrose. It was only 40 miles but what a difference in the weather. By the time we reached Montrose, the temp was 62 and the sun was shining. The mountains have a huge influence on weather in this area.
As I said, it was not the most interesting of days for us.
Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be better and we plan to go to the Black Canyon National Park.
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